Jefferson Lab: Nuclear Physics

One example of an amazing JLab discovery relates to the structure of the nucleon itself. Incoming SURA Board Chair Steven Wallace, himself a nuclear physicist from the University of Maryland, notes that “nucleons were once thought to be featureless, homogeneous, spinning quantum ‘balls.’ But JLab researchers have now demonstrated that nucleons are complex composite objects—a ‘whole new world’ within a quantum world. It is through the eyes of JLab researchers that we are only now beginning to understand the structure of the nucleon in the nuclear medium.”

“Small but potent, nucleons hold the secrets to some of nature’s most intriguing mysteries: What determines the shape of the proton? How are quarks held together by gluons? What is the nature of the strong force?” notes SURA President and LSU nuclear physicist Jerry Draayer.